


Uneasy Lies The Crown

by DormireAmore



Series: Fate Of The Young Wolves [7]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:49:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26205964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DormireAmore/pseuds/DormireAmore
Summary: Just when Sophia thought everything was over, one person she thought was dead is back.With her clan telling her to not even make contact, the Hunter is tempted to do the opposite. Why did her mother's spouse even want to talk to her?
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Series: Fate Of The Young Wolves [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1757854
Comments: 9
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was so late and the series was over due for an update. School has started up so this is on the back stove, but I will try to get updates as I can!

**February 17th, 2797**

The sword cut pinched on her side, the position the Scout was in not allowing much room for movement much less a comfortable one. 

Down below her hiding spot, Taken moved about the barren field. They almost spotted her as she scampered up the rock but a quick smoke bomb made her only a faint memory for the creatures before she got up the perch.

The still healing wound from Moirai was tainted with Dark even almost 5 months later, though smaller in size it got annoyed by simple gestures; a pain Sophia had learned to ignore. 

Simply acting as a scout in the Dreaming City was not how the Hunter imagined her off day would go, but she owed Petra a favor. One that the older woman chose to cash in today. Yeah, Venj so knew that it was her off-day, and she would get the Awoken back for that soon. 

The City's wind carried a chill that dug in between her armor groves, demanding the Arcstrider to feel it.

2 hours of shifting her spot and swapping scopes, something other than the occasional small guy caught the Hunter's eye. Out of the blue another Guardian made their way across the field. 

She mentally just waved the person off as someone heading towards the Starlight lost sector. And it looked like they did, another Hunter now that the sparrow got closer. But right when the vehicle should have passed her, it instead slowed down to a stop, almost hitting the rock. 

_'What are they doing, want me to contact their ghost?'_ Avery asked from her spot in the backpack. Giving silent confirmation, Sophia mentally asked the same question too. 

The person hopped off of it, and took out all the Taken hanging around with a quick few gunshots and a solar knife hit or two. But then they turned around and looked straight up to their hiding spot. 

The Hunter froze, caught between jumping down and staring the other Guardian in the eyes. The Hunter decided for her, moving backwards and gesturing to the ground.

There should have been no way that this person spotted her, Sophia thought as she holstered her gun and prepared for the jump down. Trust in it's holster jolted slightly as her boots caught the motion of the fall. With a quick movement, the hand cannon was upholstered but left hanging by her side for the moment. 

Trusting this stranger in a way she trusted everyone else, her Ghost was pulled out. Avery started that basic spiel she started with any new person. "My Guardian doesn't talk, so if you could be so kind and have your own Ghost share their identification number-"

Avery was cut off by the stranger interrupting, "-Sophia?" 

Both the Ghost and Guardian froze at the spot. It couldn't be her could it? The armor was all different, not even the same shader or guns. Nothing was what she remembered, except for that voice. 

_'Emerson?'_

"Guardian Reeves?"

Avery was transmitted away and Sophia quickly shuffled backwards, not knowing if this was real or just one of her nightmares. But she could still feel the wind chill and Trust was tight in her hand. 

Emerson raised her hands up in surrender, eyes glued on to her Gambit hand cannon. "Might wanna put that gun away, girly." 

If she couldn't feel the Arc curling in her chest before, it made its presence known now. Feeling wild, Sophia's Light gave an almost growl and she moved forward.

Emerson didn't do anything but watch as the other Hunter dropped her gun to the ground. Hands dropping, the Gunslinger took this as an aura of safety when suddenly the Scout swung, gloves sparking with electricity connecting to her helmet. 

It only took one punch to knock the other woman to the ground, which was an accomplishment on it's own considering Lilian's wife for sure had a few inches on her in height and muscle. 

Then the Young Wolf scooped up her gun and pointed it at Emerson's helmet. 

"How dare you, try to show up 3 fucking years after her death acting like nothing happened! You left me, that's what happened!" She was so tempted to just pull the trigger and walk away from this without another word. But she took a vow to never shoot another Guardian in arms, and Sophia wasn't about to lose that to what was in her eyes dirt on the ground. 

"You left me alone after I lost my only parent in this system, all alone. I was a kinderguardian then, what made THAT OKAY?" 

The other Hunter just stared up watching. The Dreaming City fog rolled up all around them, demanding attention. Heavy and full of secrets, it began to cover this open secret as well. 

But Sophia paid no mind to it. The rage inside her was already boiling over and spilling all around them. It lit up in her veins, all around her scars, and she could faintly smell burning wood, but all the two Hunter's looked at was each other. 

The last two people left in the universe that Lilian Scout cared for and died for. The one she wed and the one she birthed. Opposite ends of the spectrum but much the same. Reeves was one one who got her first cloak as a Hunter, the very one resting at Lilian's memorial. She was there when she went on her first mission in this new life. Emerson was always there for her. But then she wasn't. The final time she needed her second mother, the woman had already up and left without a word. Gone and leaving a very shattered Arcstrider. 

So as the Dreaming City tried to take with its curse, two people who should have been acting like family were in a deadly standoff. 

Like a snap of a gunshot, Emerson pushed herself up and gave the girl a warning glare that burnt through both helmets. "We both have issues we have to deal with Soph, but this is not the way to deal with it. I don't fight family." 

At this point Sophia had shut down, refusing to say another word but letting her Light do it instead. The air cracked with Arc too much for Avery to even think about coming out, so she stayed silent instead. 

The Gunslinger brushed the dirt off her shoulder pads, then called her sparrow again and got on. Before she sped away again, Reeves gave her one last look. "I'll send your Ghost coordinates for a meeting spot soon, we clearly need to have a talk." With that and the sound of blasters starting up she was gone.

\---

She didn't notice it till well after she got back to her ship, but Trust's handle was roasted to a crisp. It all was burnt to an ash, Arc roasting the wood like it was nothing. The nice white shader she had on it was now littered with lines like lightning. Lines that matched her own.

They withered up and down her arms. Scars in a way, the lightning bolt of lights decorated Sophia's fingers like rings, running all the way up to her neck and finished with small sparks around the Scout's cheeks. Scars that Ghosts could not heal, and what almost every Guardian had. 

Her mom had some just like hers, but around her chest. Sophia had caught a glance of it through the Warlock's shirt one day, warm weather permitting lighter clothes as they explored the city. Sprawled out but healed to a light white, it was still there; Lilian explained that she got it after taking out Oryx, the Nova Bomb sucking all of the Light from where it was held most. 

Most had Light scars from their first time using their supers. Titans with some all over their arms or legs were a common sight. Even Exos got them, the lines that could have been passed away at scratches if it wasn't for the Light seeping through. 

Sophia's was from her Arc, the staff took a lot of power to keep it lit up and by repeated consequence; almost all of the Arcstriders had lightning shaped lines on their arms as well.

But one that itched these days more often than not whenever the Hunter sucked in that deeper purple of Void was the scars on her fingers, the hands that drew the arrow back and allowed for a bow to form. One that always hit her target. 

Even before her mother's passing Void was hard for Sophia to summon. Most Guardians could do all of the super classes if up to it, but you needed a connection with Void more than Solar or Arc. 

It was hard to channel in Darkness and not let it channel you. Most Hunters just stuck with the Golden Gun because of this, but Sophia always loved the challenge. 

The first few summons were painful unfortunately though. The first time she tried to pull a tether, the Void cracked and shot her to the ground hard. Her mother almost refused to try to teach Sophia after, but knowing her own daughter; and that the girl would just go out and try on her own Lilian continued the lessons. 

The second time went a little better, but the Hunter still couldn't summon the arrow, the bow just cackled in her hands barely even there. That left the start of the scars, whispering mocks that she couldn't do it, the white haired girl could never be as good as her mother. 

But Lilian kept on supporting her, pushing for her to continue. When she finally was able to summon it, all hits hitting their mark it was 2 weeks after her mother's passing. Still mourning, all of Sophia's rage went into the poor servitor obliterated before the 3rd arrow. 

In 5 years the universe watched the Young Wolf grow. But it also watched scars form, pain holding tight underneath. 

\---


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _(16:39) 'one new message from: UNKNOWN'_

**February 23rd, 2797**

Everyone seemed to want something from Sophia as she didn't get back to the city till a week after the whole Dreaming City fiasco.

She had gotten a comm ring from Soul-5 that day so right after the Hunter picked up everything from the Postmaster, she made her way down to the City. 

Dressed in civilian clothes, the Young Wolf still seemed to get people wanting her to stop by and talk about something. She indulged a few, but with what was basically a one sided conversation with the person and Avery responding for her, Sophia zoned out a bit more than what was polite. 

The Hunter finally made it to the restaurant Soul asked for her to meet her at. It was a smaller dinner with only a few customers sitting around, but it had a warm feeling that immediately pulled her in. 

Sitting at a booth tucked in the corner was her favorite Warlock, softly talking to her Ghost Adhan. Sophia slid in the booth across from her and gave the Exo a short smile. The woman in question looked up and reached forward as well as she could hugged the Arcstrider. 

"You would not believe the day I'm having! New Monarchy is trying to pull the whole pack into their faction, and I mean obviously Azul said no but they just won't give up. That Hideo bimbo just called me," The Red tinted exo began to rant. 

Giving a small chuckle, Sophia summoned a pen and took one of the napkins laying around in the table, quickly writing a note.   
_"They've been trying to get to me for years, plus with all the others I've quickly learned what the mute option is."_ Which was true, constantly it was factions, gun manufacturers, the press, all wanting a word or a connection with the daughter of the Savior. It got to a point where Sophia would just mute all of ‘em and hope they took that as a sign that she just didn’t want any type of partnership. 

Sliding this back over, the Hunter gave the diner a quick scan while Soul read the writing. Decorated with older booths and black and white tile flooring, the whole place just radiated Pre-Golden Age aura. The smell of coffee filled the area, strong and sweet. 

An older gentleman made his way over to her booth, to which Sophia gave a kick to the Warlock's shin to grab her notice. Her cyan optics flickered up, and the woman gave a small smile to the man. "Hey Mr. Stewart, nice to see you again," her warm friend greeted the man standing up to give him a hug. 

Now named Mr. Stewart, he had just starting to age dark, brown hair and green eyes that seemed to sparkle. Dressed like any other waiter in the establishment, he wore it like it was formal wear all nice and pressed. Letting go of the Exo, he turned towards her. "It's finally nice to meet you, dear, Soul talks a lot of good things about you. My name's Chris Stewart and I own this place. Those papers don't do you justice, you look just like my grandson cute as a button." 

Already wanting the attention away from her, Sophia just gave a short nod pulling at Avery. The Ghost's shell gave a whirl as if she was stretching as she transmitted in. "Pleased to meet you Mr. Stewart, I talk on behalf of my Guardian and I that it's very nice to meet you as well!" She chirped. 

Always the social pleaser wasn't she. 

But it got the attention off of her, so the Hunter took it in good graces. Damned if she was going to take it for granted. While her friend and the waiter talked and placed orders (Sophia just pointed to the coffee stand) she pulled out her comm unit and started to organize things she had been sent over the last few days. 

Spam, requests for mission statements, Banshee finally got around to fixing her scout rifle, a weird message about glimmer, it was all average stuff. 

The Arcstrider was about to put the whole unit away when something caught her eyes. Just a small line of digits in the message bar, the Scout would have thought it was another piece of spam if it wasn't for the fact there was a little pop-up bubble on the side. 

_‘Re-add contact? y/n'_

The user had already been linked up to it. Grabbing Avery’s attention away from what was now just Soul-5, she gestured to the screen. 

The Ghost gave the message a quick scan, her shell whirling with the movement. “It’s a set of coordinates to a spot on Titan from Emerson Reeves,” she stated. Sophia groaned internally with that. Of course. 

“Wait, Reeves is trying to get back in contact with you?” the Exo across from her said, optics wide. “Didn’t she skip planets after y’know…” 

Her mom’s death, the one thing everyone still refused to say out-right. 

Sophia nodded and flipped the napkin she wrote on before. _“She pulled up in the middle of one of my scouting missions for Petra. Wanted to talk but I punched her instead, threatened to shoot her. Emerson still wanted to meet up after and I didn’t get much of a choice to say no before that fool left again.”_

Soul scuffed reading it, her demeanor getting more and more angry with each line read. When she finished, Sophia was just waiting for the note to burn to a crisp in between the Exo’s fingers. "There's no way you're going to talk to her, Reeves can't barge in your life like that Soph!" 

The Hunter knew this. The Gunslinger had done nothing but abandon her at a time that she needed the Hunter most, and without a word came back insisting on talking. It was toxic, horrible, and downright cruel for Emerson to do this. 

Sophia got grief, she went on her own spiral down but she came back ready to face her new future. The older woman thought she could go back to the old without hesitation or any work at all. It didn’t work that way though. The other part of Sophia softly argued that this was her last connection alive, finally. She could have a parental figure alive and all would be well. But that wouldn’t heal the scars left behind, of abandonment and hate. 

Sitting there in that diner, she had a silent battle with herself. With the clock ticking down that night she made her decision and the plan to stick to it. No, she wouldn't go to those coordinates to talk. Emerson didn't deserve that. It was better this way. She would simply move on with her life, without Reeves. 

The Young Wolf repeated it multiple times. And by the 24th time, she almost believed herself.

\---


	3. Chapter 3

**February 26th, 2797**

This wasn’t how Sophia thought she would be spending her weekend morning, but the whole clan needed to be in this stifling meeting room, especially her. 

Part of her that morning just wanted to sleep through her alarms and lay there in Sana’s room till the day was over, but Azul pushed everyone up and out of the apartment by 0730; a cabbie waiting to pick them up at the bottom of the Tower. 

In the center of the Last City was more business and less residential. Sophia rarely ducked into this part of town, it was all buildings and stuck up people who saw Guardians more as pawns than anything else. 

In the meeting room sat Prime Fire on one side of the long table dressed in their show armor, no burnt marks or scuffed armor. The only thing missing was helmets, Xuj saying that it was rude to wear it indoors. Fuck polite in her opinion. Her helmet allowed cover and no one was able to see doubtfulness in her eyes. 

With the clan sitting in authoritative order, Azul was in the middle with Corey and Sana on either side. This placed Sophia next to Corey and Bolt-17 looking ready to doze away on Sana’s shoulder. Soul the last one out was supposed to be sitting next to the other Hunter’s but she was at the moment looking out the giant bay window to their right studying the people below. They've sat in almost dead silence in the otherwise empty room for over 30 minutes. 

When they pulled up to the Vanguard’s outsource building it was barely hitting 8’olk. The city was just waking up as Prime Fire was led up 30 stories via elevator by a nice looking man, who told them to wait in the room for the Faction leaders to come in. 

She didn’t even wish to know how those three managed to get Azul to agree to a meeting with all 6 of them, but it couldn’t have been pretty. The Titan looked basically drained two seats down, fidgeting with his disposable coffee cup. The Awoken did nothing but stare at one of the crappy paintings on the wall. The Hunter suddenly got the feeling that this meeting wasn’t going to be good. 

After an even longer wait in the meeting room that was 5 degrees too cold to be comfortable, the door swung open to reveal Executor Hideo of New Monarchy. He was yapping to a lady she presumed to be his assistant or something. “-eeded those shipments yesterday. Tell them to speed it up.” 

The assistant gave a nod and sped back out of the door like she wasn’t even there. The Faction leader then turned towards the clan and gave a bright smile, “My favorite group of people, that was quite a show you 6 put on in Control yesterday. Didn’t leave a single person standing,” Hideo said as he sat in-front of her clan leader. 

An aging man, draped in dark red everything, he looked a little silly in Sophia’s opinion but she wasn’t going to say a word. 

Next came in Future War Cult’s Lakshmi-2. The Exo was more graceful with her entrance then her business partner’s, simply giving a polite greeting before sitting to the Executor's right. 

Finally Arach Jalaal walked in. Ever holding that anonymous feeling of Dead Orbit the Awoken didn’t speak at all, simply just sat at New Monarchy’s left. When the final member got settled, Hideo clapped his hands and gave another smile. “Good now that we are all here, let’s get straight to business.”

 _“Oh here we go,”_ Avery mocked in her backpack, the Ghost already getting an attitude. Sophia silently shushed her and went back to paying attention. 

“Now, being one of the most powerful clans the Vanguard has to offer, we should start out by saying that it would be an honor for Prime Fire to join one of our Factions. Simply you all supply and you shall reap the benefits,” Hideo gestured to his two parters then across the table to all of them. Sophia slightly rolled her eyes and leaned back. This was stupid.

Her motion must have caught the man’s eyes because he then turned to her, eyes brightening. “Ah, The Young Wolf. Always glad to see you, though I am disappointed that you have been ignoring my calls. What is your proposition on this?” 

“Perhaps she has been ignoring them on purpose, Hideo. I wouldn’t wish to hear what you have to say as well,” Lakshmi-2 cut in giving him a curt look. 

The human waved a hand, “You know nothing. This is Ms. Scout, not you. Her mother allowed sponsorship at her wedding, the girl is even wearing one of my cloaks; White shader altering it or not.” 

Jalaal seemed to get aggravated at that. “As if uneasy lies the head that wears that crown Lilian Scout created, she has no manner with New Monarchy. You are simply fabricating things old man.” 

Through this all Sophia just tugged her cloak over her head farther, wanting to do nothing but leave. Why did they see her as nothing more than an object in their plans? Hell how did her mother manage to do the same without leaving as well. But, the Warlock made that role high in the sky and Sophia was struggling to carry this as well. Especially when everyday there was someone there reminding her that Lilian did so much better. 

Azul leaned in before their bickering got too far, “This meeting was to talk about a trial run on a joint partnership, not an interrogation of my own. If this topic could be dropped I ask for us to move on.” 

The meeting continued on, but her attention was all but gone. 

Why was she wasting her time talking to people who didn't care about her. The Hunter was only here as a title, a tool. What did any of the factions care about Sophia? 

All these monsters out here, and she still found the ones in the one spot where it should be safe. 

Atropos in a dream or not showed the Scout that her second chance in an even sliver of connection was still alive. Yet here she was letting it disintegrate to ashes right in front of her. 

The voices droned on but no one seemed to notice or care that the Arcstrider had left the solar system dozens of minutes ago. 

Hell with what the rest of her clan thought, Sophia _needed_ to go to that meeting on Titan. It was time to see Emerson Reeves. 

\---


	4. Chapter 4

**February 27th, 2797**

Titan was frigid and humid, but somehow cold, just like it always was. Because most guardians followed Earths day/night cycle (putting the time at around 3:00 am), this left Saturn’s moon deserted during its actual day time, no one present notice as the Young Wolf trans-matted down to the ground floor.

Sophia's hood quickly got soaked with the acid rain that fell all around her as she made the winding path down to a part of the Arcology coordinates given, her sparrow swaying with the wind.

While confident on her decision to meet with Emerson, she didn’t like going behind her family's backs. As the Hunter got closer and closer to where her ghost directed her, the more the nerves grew.

Hive screeched as she got into the old Arcology, reaching out as the sparrow raced by. Sophia ignored them all, just sped by, ignoring that spot in the back of her brain telling the Arcstrider to turn back around. 

When she finally made it to the point, there was nothing but a Golden-Age roomba hitting the wall. The Scout jumped off of the vehicle, moving to rest on one of the benches covered in green overgrow. 

Sitting there in the quiet, it was much like when she was on the run 3 years prior. Where the only duty Sophia had was keeping herself alive, and just exploring. It was a freeing life, but along with it a lonely one. There was no one to watch her back, only her. 

The Hunter was shaken out of her thoughts by another sparrow’s noise echoing on the walls, standing up gun in hand; Sophia watched warily as Reeves came closer to view, hopping off of the thing still running. 

“Sorry for the wait, had to drop something off real quick,” Emerson apologized as the older woman yanked off her helmet. 

The younger Hunter just shrugged in response, watching as her step-mother sat down next to her. Taking the non-verbal communication in stride, the Gunslinger sighed and looked Sophia in the eyes, whereas the younger simply continued to look down to the ground; ignoring the stare into the side of her eyes.

“Clearly, you’re still mad at me Soph-”

The young adult snorted, crossing her arms. Clearly. 

“I’ll be at fault here, I left you alone in a time where I shouldn’t have. I just…” Emerson dropped off, taking her glance off her step-daughter and to the ceiling instead. 

It was silent for a moment, all you could hear was Hive in the faint distance and the ever-so often crack of open comms from either Guardian.

Emerson shifted where she sat, fiddling with her gloves. “I left because I knew that you could protect yourself better than I ever could. Lilian, she was this shining light to the entirety of the Sol System and I couldn’t handle the loss of that. Blamed myself for her last death, and didn’t want to be the cause of yours as well so I thought leaving would be better. I loved you too much.” 

The girl spoke up for the first time during this meeting, hands shaking. “Don’t say you love me. I can’t trust you right now, shouldn’t even be here right now. Everyone keeps telling me you’re the bad guy, but I just wanna think for myself for once.” Tears were rolling down at this point, the Arcstrider finally looking up. 

Emerson’s breath caught in her throat at the sight. Crying, looking just like the photo of her wife that rested in her helmet, the older Hunter did the only reasonable thing she could do, which was reach forward and pull her daughter into her chest, arms wrapped around tight. They sat in silence once more in that embrace, but the tension was a bit less tense. It would take a while for things to mend, but both were sure it would get back on track. 

“So the clan, Prime Fire ain’t it? You guys are making city headlines I’ve heard.” Emerson threw out, voice slightly muffled by the head her face was still shoved next to. 

“Yeah… they're pretty nice.” 

\---


End file.
